


Butterfly Lovers

by MimBeech



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Fluff, Gratuitous Reference to 80s Movie, Guzheng, Music Lessons, New Relationship, Teasing, lots of kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 03:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13355844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MimBeech/pseuds/MimBeech
Summary: A brief interlude during a music lesson. Fluff, affection and kissing.





	Butterfly Lovers

An oddly soft twang reverberated within the personal shuttle of the Firefly’s official companion, accompanied by the sound of a small, hard object hitting a rug and a high-pitched whine. 

“Gorram!’ Kaylee looked down at the before her instrument ruefully. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break it, I don’t know what I-“

The younger woman trailed off as Inara swept to her side. The companion laughed when she realised the minimal extent of the damage, “It’s not broken, silly. It’s just a string. Honestly, it’s about time I changed them all, but you have to do it gradually, you can’t change them all at once, or the tuning will be _pi gu_ for weeks.” She smiled as she wandered over to an intricate chest of drawers, her many layers of clothing rustling delicately. “This is a good opportunity to get the process started.”

Inara pulled out a small paper bag and a pair of scissors from one drawer, and sauntered over once more to her friend’s side. “Not to mention, I can also teach you how to do it yourself.” She knelt, and delicately pulled the two ends of broken string from the guzheng. “I like to use silk strings, I think they sound nicer. Plus, you can find silk weavers all around the central system who’ll sell you high-grade ones for a good price.”

Kaylee removed all three plectrums from her fingers, and pulled the paper bag from Inara’s hands. She opened it curiously and inspected its contents. “Where did you get these ones?”

“Less than a year ago. I was on Beaumonde.” To Kaylee’s utter surprise, Inara slid off ornately inlaid panels at either end of the instrument, exposing 21 rough metal pegs in either hidden chamber. 

Kaylee admonished herself mentally. _Obviously there would have to be a hidden way to attach the strings, they can’t simply float there. And you call yourself a mechanic. Huh!_

Inara gestured at the bag, now resting in Kaylee’s lap. “You can pull out a length for me, since you insist on holding them.”

Kaylee singled out a thread, she felt she pulled for an absurdly long time before the length ran out. “This must be two meters long,” she wondered aloud.

“Well, yeah.” Inara responded, confusion in her voice at Kaylee’s reaction. “My guzheng’s small, but some are very close to two meters long, so they sell strings that are generally two-and-a-bit meters.” The companion’s guzheng was small, 120cm long, originally intended as a travel instrument. Nonetheless, its upper shell was richly adorned in inlaid silver, now quite tarnished. The warmth of the wood cut through with delicate swirls of blue and violet. 

To Kaylee, Inara’s guzheng exuded her style, her essence. It was as slender and perfectly balanced as the woman who now sat beside her, threading silk through the appropriate holes. When the companion had suggested guzheng lessons, Kaylee had been delighted. She had long admired musicians of all kinds, but most of all, she admired Inara’s musical ability. Kaylee had only seen Inara perform on a few occasions, for a retinue of small-town traders as a show of good-will from the Firefly, and on a couple of quiet evenings, in the dining area, if the mood suited her. The sheer emotion and beauty the older woman coaxed from her instrument never failed to astound the young mechanic. 

Kaylee found herself entranced by the deft movement of Inara’s hands. She had now tied and tightly wound the end of the silk string to a peg on the right – using a complex knot to affix it firmly. She slowly ran her fingers along the silk a number of times to ensure it was not twisted. 

Kaylee felt her mouth go dry watching Inara’s graceful movements. She carefully leant over to shyly kiss the companion’s cheek, unable to refrain from a simple affectionate act.

Inara smiled in response, her eyes not leaving her task. She picked up Kaylee’s hand and guided it to hold the string on the left-hand side of the instrument. “This is so much easier with another pair of hands available,” she admitted to the mechanic.

Encouraging Kaylee to provide some tension, Inara gently nudged the wooden bridge – which had fallen to the floor when the old string had broken – under the string and into an appropriate position. “I’ll have to move this slightly later on, to tune,” she explained, “but there’s a general cascading pattern the bridges follow.”

Inara once more claimed the silk from Kaylee, and leant over to the left. She was practically resting over the mechanic’s lap, so Kaylee gently put her hand on her friend’s back and leaned forward to watch the next step. Inara made a small noise of happiness at the closeness she was sharing with the younger woman, as she carefully threaded the silk through the requisite hole and beside it’s appropriate peg. “Can you hold this firm again?” she asked.

Kaylee did as told, as Inara extricated herself from the other woman and stood up. She moved to the other side of the mechanic and sat with her knees braced against the narrow end of the guzheng. “I need to create quite a bit of tension, so I’m going to pull quite hard. It’d be great if you could brace it for me.”

“Uh-huh.” Kaylee affirmed, biting her lip.

The companion pulled strongly on the silk string and, in a quick and easy movement, wound it round its peg. “Could you give it a pluck,” she asked Kaylee, “we’ll see what the pitch is like.”

Sure enough, the guzheng rang out with a clear tone. Inara reached once more over Kaylee, raising up on her knees, and moved the string’s bridge only a few millimetres. Cocking her head, as if to hear better, she plucked a number of times experimentally, and moved the bridge very slightly once more, then looked up at her friend, a satisfied smile on her face.

“That was so quick!” marvelled Kaylee. “You must have done this loads before.”

“I’ve been playing guzheng since I started my companion training at twelve.” Inara admitted. “I think music was the best part of my years on Sihnon.” She frowned slightly as she contemplated her years in the strict environment of the companion college. So much so that Kaylee was motivated to lean awkwardly over the guzheng, conscious of knocking the precious instrument, and kiss Inara’s brow a number of times in rapid succession. 

Inara giggled and reached up to hold Kaylee’s head and look directly in her clear, blue eyes. “You’re in a real teasy mood, aren’t you? Won’t you kiss me properly?”

Kaylee smiled seductively, or at least attempted to, and rushed forward to capture Inara’s mouth in a passionate and lingering kiss. Before she had the chance to really put some effort into their embrace, Inara pulled away and said, “I don’t think we’re going to continue your lesson any time soon. I might put the guzheng out of harm’s way for now, and we can find some other activity to amuse ourselves.”

Kaylee watched, warmth in her eyes, as the companion carefully placed the guzheng on top of the chest of drawers and threw a light cloth over it, to keep the dust off. Inara walked back towards Kaylee, and motioned for the mechanic to follow her to her luxuriously appointed bed. Kaylee seated herself comfortably on the edge of the bed as Inara traced the younger woman’s jawline with a perfectly manicured finger. “Now, where were we?”

Kaylee reached up to hold Inara’s shoulders, guiding her into another searing kiss. When the broke off, the younger woman was panting with desire. “In the pit of despair?” she asked huskily.

“What?” Inara asked, laughing incredulously. She was certain this was one of Kaylee’s many references to folk tales she’d grown up with – _she might explain it one day, she might not, no matter_. A wry smile on her lips, the companion gently pushed Kaylee backwards to the mattress and climbed up to straddle her hips. Her eyes darkened as her desire for the woman beneath her surged. “Hmm, I think the exact opposite is likely to be true.”

**Author's Note:**

> • Pi gu means ‘ass’ according to the Firefly wiki  
> • The guzheng is a beautiful instrument, The Butterfly Lovers is a very famous Chinese piece.  
> • Traditional silk strings feel more appropriate for the world of Firefly, they’re more organic and I think they’d be more easily produced – even though these days guzheng generally use steel or nylon strings.  
> • Oh yes, and a good Princes Bride reference – how else do you finish off a fic, I ask you? ;)


End file.
